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Alan Wake Insights from GDC

It's been around five years since development started on Remedy Entertainment's psychological action thriller, Alan Wake. Microsoft is still on board to publish the game, but the project has been shrouded in secrecy so much so that fans of the developers are getting a little restless. The Game Developers Conference last week in San Francisco turned up some new information on the game however, via a Norwegian-to-English translated interview by videogame site gamer.no.

Alan Wake Producer Oskari Hakkinen sat down and talked about the game. While no major megatons were revealed, he did uncover some new information about the game. Most interesting of all were his comments about in-game weather and lighting. While not expanding much on how light will affect gameplay, it will be an important aspect; Wake carries a flashlight in many of the screenshots released so far. With a full day/night cycle, Hakkinen reinforced that levels of light will be measured in the environments at all times.

Weather conditions will also play an important role and affect the outcome of the player's experiences accordingly. An example was given of how cars might handle very differently in icy or snowy conditions, versus dry and bright conditions. Hakkinen noted "you should remember is that this concept is very new and different."

Wake up, son. Light is the new bullet-time (apparently.)

He also talks about how the story will unfold. The team apparently worked very hard to recreate a cliffhanger episodic feel; something that viewers of "Lost" or "24" are very familiar with. The actual plot sees Wake -- a writer -- investigating the disappearance of his wife Alice in a small town called Bright Falls. Heavy nightmare-style sequences are said to feature prominently in the game, which is described by Remedy as a psychological action thriller.

Hakkinen also stated that even thought the development cycle of the game has been long up to this point, the developer has kept on top of the technical side and assures that the game will still look technically impressive. Alan Wake is also going to be less action-packed than the company's Max Payne and instead more like Silent Hill, although Hakkinen was quick to point out that Alan Wake would be more authentic than Konami's survival horror series.

Bryn says: For a guy that wasn't supposed to give anything at all away about his new game, Hakkinen gave me more than I ever imagined he would at this stage. Alan Wake is slipping into the realms of Duke Nukem Forever at this rate, and while that comparison might not be entirely fair, it's time that Remedy really let some solid concrete updates out.

As an observer and an enthusiast of this genre of gaming I can only hope that E3 2009 is the place where Microsoft is able to twist Remedy's arm into a proper reveal.